Natalia Antyukh 54.19!!!

[K.I.R.]

I've noticed this with a lot of Russian athletes too. I don't know why their legs are always so red below the thigh. I've noticed that a few of them slap their legs while warming up (to encourage blood flow perhaps?), but it is strange how a lot of them seem to have the redness.

In the photo above, the rosy hue seems to coincide with the tan lines, drawing perfectly straight lines that likely could not result from slapping. Perhaps they've gone the JV high school kid route and applied IcyHot to their legs before racing.

[Alexm]

Jon's right, they do slap their legs. The've always done this. Athlete's like Zykina used to do it to the extreme, slap her thighs, her arms and her (face) cheeks. It's not for circulation but to do with generating pain killing endorphins.

[K.I.R.]

Jon's right, they do slap their legs. The've always done this. Athlete's like Zykina used to do it to the extreme, slap her thighs, her arms and her (face) cheeks.

As opposed to ... ?

[imaginative]

When a man slaps a woman on one kind of cheek, she slaps him back on the other.

[tandfman]

Not always.

[nevetsllim]

This may seem like a stupid/pointless/weird question - but it has me perplexed. I've just seen a photo of Antyukh on IAFF and it gave me a flashback to 2005 - Tatyana Andrianova running in Helsinki. You see, I was convinced that Andrianova had lay out in the sun too long and burned her legs , since she lined up in her heats/semi and final with the pinkest thighs. But when I saw Antyukh's pic....with the same discolouration, this time more blotchy - I'm sure they are from the same thing, but what? It's not blood flow because Andrianova was red before the race even started? Is it heavy massage or something? Is it common?


http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/852716 ... 0B0D811297

I really hadn't noticed it until you brought it up! :shock:

http://tinyurl.com/l52de6